NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures rebounded Friday, rising for the first time in six sessions, as sentiment was boosted by hopes that stimulus plans in Japan and Europe will help revive the global economy.
Crude for January delivery rose $1.36, or 2.8%, to $50.78 a barrel in early electronic trading. Other energy futures also posted gains.
On Thursday, oil slumped 7.5% to close at the lowest level since May 2005.
"Oil prices pushed higher this morning on hopes Asian central banks will announce measures to help revive economic growth," said analysts at Sucden Research in a note.
"Bank of Japan said they will pump more money into the financial markets, while there are hopes China may cut interest rates later today," they said. "The hopes of a rate cut sparked short-covering ahead of the weekend, which boosted Asian markets and lifted oil markets."
The Bank of Japan's Policy Board voted unanimously Friday to hold its key overnight call rate unchanged at 0.3% and said it would consider new measures to help inject more cash into the financial system. Read more.
Most Asian markets sprang from sharp intraday losses to end higher Friday, with trader speculation that China may cut interest rates further contributing to the bounce.
On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures surged after a report that Citigroup may put itself on the block and after upbeat results from Dell and Salesforce.com .
On Thursday, U.S. stocks stumbled to 11 1/2 -year lows as hopes faded for a rescue of the automakers and as concerns grew about Citigroup's financial health.
"It is difficult to get upbeat about the prospect of buying practically anything these days, as the downside pressure in all markets is unrelenting," said Edward Meir, an analyst at MF Global, in a note.
Also on the Globex Friday, January reformulated gasoline rose 4 cents to $1.08 a gallon, and January heating oil gained 4 cents to $1.73 a gallon.
December natural gas futures rose 12 cents to $6.43 per million British thermal units.
